1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to MEMS inductors and, more particularly, to a saucer-shaped half-loop MEMS inductor with very low resistance.
2. Description of the Related Art
A micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) inductor is a semiconductor structure that is fabricated using the same types of steps (e.g., the deposition of layers of material and the selective removal of the layers of material) that are used to fabricate conventional analog and digital CMOS circuits.
MEMS inductors are commonly formed as coil structures. When greater inductance is required, the coil structure is typically formed around a magnetic core structure. Core structures formed from laminated Ni—Fe have been shown to have low eddy current losses, high magnetic permeability, and high saturation flux density.
Although prior-art MEMS inductors provide a solution to many applications, and thereby provide an easy process for providing an on-chip inductor, the prior-art MEMS inductors have an excessively high resistance for other applications, such as applications which require inductor resistance in the milliohm range. Thus, there is a need for a MEMS inductor that provides very low resistance.